


Another Premonition

by RiYuYami



Series: Pulling Strings [16]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Another dream story, Gen, Or Is It?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-14 12:09:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13007463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiYuYami/pseuds/RiYuYami
Summary: Never expect anything predictable with a demon, they do whatever they want, and you just have to sit there and deal with it.He's going to keep coming to you in your dreams, Henry, maybe you should listen to him.





	Another Premonition

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually the first one shot I had planned for Pulling Strings, but then things happened, and I edited so much of it into what it is now.

Henry groaned loudly, rubbing his head as his vision started to come back to him. He tried to remember what happened, but all that came to mind was the letter S and…

“Boris!” He shot up, but regretted it instantly from the massive strike of vertigo he felt, his vision spinning terribly. He heard a distorted chuckle from nearby, and when the world came back into focus, Henry was horrified to see the tall, lanky form of “Bendy” standing near the doorway in front of him.

**“Gotta be more careful there, bub.”**

Henry tensed up, first, Bendy sounded almost… normal, but there was still something off with it, it was deeper, distorted, it was just missing the lilting words, the garbled speech. It at least sounded clearer than it had the last time he heard "Bendy" speak, when he accidentally spied on him and "Alice".

Second, he was just standing there, there was no ink dripping from the ceiling, nor were black lines on the walls and floors, and Henry’s heart was beating normally. Well, he was startled, so it was beating fast, but not like how it usually did when “Bendy” showed up.

“W-what are you doing here?” Henry stammered out, trying to find his pipe, but there was nothing, he was sitting in the remains of the broken elevator without a weapon. Wait, why was the elevator broken?

Oh… right…

“Alice” tricked him and Boris, and dropped the elevator. Then when Boris tried to wake him up, “Alice” kidnapped him… and Henry just passed out.

God damnit, his only friend in this hellhole is probably dead now… and here was here, all alone without any way to hide or defend himself from the demonic being that had been chasing him all over for hours now.

“Fuck… what happened? Where am I?” He hissed, going into panic overdrive as he tried to figure out everything at once. Why was “Bendy” even here? Had he done something? Did he know what was going on? Did he want to do to Henry what “Alice” was going to do to Boris?

 **“Level S, a _veeeeeerrrrry_ dangerous area of the studio.”** “Bendy” replied, limping into the room before dropping down to sit on some crates near the doorway. He leaned back on his hands, watching Henry with no visible eyes. **“Why’d the elevator fall?”**

“How did you know I was here?”

 **“Heard it crash, one of mah cutouts is nearby.”** The Ink Demon replied, gesturing to where a smiling, cardboard Bendy stood off to the side. This was so creepy, unnatural, there was too-casual of an air coming off “Bendy”, something isn’t right here.

The old animator was beginning to suspect that this might be a dream from a concussion.

Well, he wasn’t being killed, so he might as well deal with the scenario as best as he could. However, if this was a dream with “Bendy” in it, speaking to him almost normally, then why wasn’t he back in the flooded room? With the projector and the strange music that would play that Bendy would sing to, giving him some sort of strange prophecy or word of advice, like the last two dreams he had with the Ink Demon form of Bendy? This isn't like the dream he had earlier... with a normal Bendy, but that Bendy has started to melt into a demonic creature near the end of the dream...

A loud, rude coughing snapped Henry from his thoughts. **“You didn’t answer mah question.”** “Bendy” spoke up, sounding annoyed, even with that horrible smile still plastered on his bone-white face. Henry glowered at him, huffing.

Then he sighed, scratching at his head as he avoided whatever eye contact he could make with “Bendy”. “Alice was going to let us go, me and Boris. But while she was talkin’, she started to cry, then laugh… then the elevator started to drop, and she yelled at me. She knows my name, she knows who I am. She wanted Boris, and we hit the bottom. I got knocked out, and… she…”

There was a snarl from “Bendy” and Henry felt his heart begin to hurt, just like before, in previous encounters. The smile was gone, replaced with that frown from before, when Henry had first heard the Ink Demon speak. **_“She stole him away… she’s stolen ALL of the Borises!”_** He gripped the edges of the crate, the wood easily cracking under his mismatched hands. Henry winced, seeing steam coming from between the thing’s fingers, just like what happened earlier with the speaker…

“Why are you talking to me?” Henry risked asking, this wasn’t a real, right? He could ask, though he was sure the answer is just his own mind pulling some bullshit out of the air to try to give him some clue as to what was even going on.

“Bendy” raised his head, the smile on his face was still missing, but the frown had eased up slightly. **“Because it’s part of the game.”**

“Game?”

The smile slowly started to grow on the Ink Demon’s face. **“I think… you of all people would know that I enjoy a good game, _Henry Ross._ ”**

Henry shuddered, hearing his name spoken by such a voice was just wrong. “Are you really Bendy?”

The smile faltered a bit. **“I am him, in a way, I suppose...”** He rose up from the crate, beginning to walk towards Henry with slow, unstable steps on mismatched feet **. “Things have happened in the past thirty years, an’ changes were made. Most… unwillingly done, to say the least.”** He snarled and stood above the human, towering over him.

**“This horrible body of mine, it ain’t nothin’ like what you had imagined for me, so off-model. Years of constant offs an’ ons can do dat to a guy, ya know?”**

He chuckled a bit, ink slipping out between the lines of his teeth. **“But I am still Bendy, just another look for ‘em. In fact… I’m all the Bendys here! My eyes are the eyes of the posters,”** he gestured towards one for one of the posters on the wall, **“the cutouts, the drawin’s left on the walls, floors, desks, even the cartoon clips. I see everythin’ the drawings of Bendy see, even all them toys, I see what they see, I feel what they feel…”** The grin returned, and it seemed to be strained, like he was holding back his anger.

“Bendy” seemed to be staring down at Henry without any visible eyes, but the human felt the poster and the cutout looking directly at him. **“Every time someone damages ‘em, I feel the pain, an’ it really pushes mah buttons, Henry. That’s why she made ya slice up my cutouts, cause she knows it hurts me.”**

“I’m… sorry.” Henry frowned, knowing a simple apology couldn’t fix that.

The Ink Demon scoffed and crouched down, resting his elbows on his knees as he placed his chin on his hands. **“Ya didn’t know, no one really knows. She only found out by accident.”** He paused and chuckled. **“Ya look like a freakin’ mess, it’s a good look for ya, Ross.”**

Henry glared at him after looking himself over. His clothes had tears in them, and he was coated in splatters of ink and dust, great... “What do you even want? Come to finally finish the job? End your little ‘game’?”

He got a shrug in reply. **“Came to see what the hubbub was about, all dat noise an’ stuff. Found ya down here, in pain, it was funny. You probably deserved it.”**

“Like fuck I did.”

**“Traitors get what they get.”**

The animator blinked, sitting up a bit, despite the ache in his old bones. “Traitor? What?”

“Bendy’s” frown returned. **“Don’t play dumb, Henry. You left, you never came back, never looked back. _Did ya really stop lovin’ us that much, Henry?_ ”** He sounded angry, furious even, but there was a slight tone in there, one of sadness. **“Were we not good enough? _Was I…_ ”** He stopped himself, his fists clenched tightly.

Henry frowned softly and shook his head. “You were always good enough. I never wanted to leave, Bendy. But… a war started, the country needed able-bodied men, and I got drafted. Heh, only one in the studio to get drafted… what are the odds… Joey didn’t like that, told me to reject it, but I couldn’t. And he told me I was fired, made me leave, practically kicked me out.”

“Bendy” was silent, tilting his head slightly. **“You didn’t even try to come back.”** He strangely sounded... confused, conflicted, like he didn't fully trust Henry's words, but there was a hint that he might have suspected a kernel of truth.

“I did!” Henry frowned, crossing his arms. “I came back shortly after I returned, but Joey literally slammed the door in my face, basically told me I could never come out. He once told me in the early years of the studio that if I left, I’d never get work in animation again. Turns out that threat was true, bastard ruined my reputation, told lies to other studios nearby that I stole credit and characters, when it was Joey who did that…”

He saw the frown twitch on the other’s face and “Bendy” made a tisk sound, shaking his head. **“You’re lyin’.”**

“I would never lie about somethin’ like this. Bendy, it was my dream since I was a child to draw and animate. Ever since I saw my first cartoon in theaters, I wanted to work in an animation studio. And when I got my dream, when I created you…” He smiled sadly, “those were two of the best moments of my life.”

“Bendy” stood up straight, beginning to pace in front of Henry, before letting out a frustrated growl. **“But ya still left! You didn’t even fight to stay! Come on, Joey’s scary, but ya could’ve at least tried ta stand ya ground! You didn’t! Ya let him shut ya out an’ look where you are now! Sittin’ in the remains of a broken elevator, talkin’ to da demon you created who wants your head on a gosh darn pike!”**

“Do you really hate me?”

The question seemed to catch the demon off-guard and he paused, ‘looking’ at Henry. **“… Yes.”**

Henry smirked. “You hesitated. You don’t really hate me.”

**“Bull pucky! I hate you more than anythin’!”**

“You hate Joey more.”

 **“… That’s besides da point.”** “Bendy” growled, scoffing as he put his hands on his hips. **“Ya think yer so smart, messin’ wit’ mah head…”** He grumbled and started to pace again.

Henry sat up straight, sighing. “So, what happens now?” He asked, watching his cartoon continue to walk about the small room. “Are you really goin’ to kill me, or are you just goin’ to keep chasin’ me until you get tired of me, or I die at the hands of someone else?”

“Bendy” hissed. **_“No one is goin’ ta touch my stuff again!”_** Henry winced at the screech from the demon. **_“I’m tired of that fake Angel touchin’ you, an’ makin’ you do things for her! She’s ruinin’ my game, she always does!”_**

“Your stuff?”

 **“Yes, Henry, MY STUFF.”** He stomped his foot on the ground, sending black veins of ink across the floor and walls. Henry winced as they stung at where they touched him, he was sure if one of the Butcher Gang or a Searcher was here, they’d explode instead of dissolve.

**“Everyone here is always ruinin’ things for me! The fake Angel keeps breakin’ mah things, and she was gonna kill ya! An’ Joey! _… JOEY…_ An’ then there’s Sammy, hehehe… that crazy, ol’ fool got what he deserved, takin’ you to kill ya in mah name. He wanted out of that body, yeah? Well… I did that for him, put his mind in the ink streams… in the pipes, where I was trapped for so long, an’ he knew I was there, but he didn’t even bother ta turn on the machine…”**

The Ink Demon paused, frowning, ‘looking’ at Henry. **“Did ya know that? He knew I was there, in the pipes, for so long, an’ yet, as much as he worshipped me, he was too scared to free me. They all fear me down here…”**

He frowned deeply, stopping his walking, putting his hands behind his back. **“Even you fear me, Henry. Just as I had hoped, but it ain’t as satisfyin’ as I would have liked…”** He trailed off, seeming to be lost in thought. **“This game is a lot less fun for me that I’d like it to be…”**

“Then stop the game.” Henry replied.

 **“I can’t, not until I find Joey. Not until I stop her. I’ve got a lotta stuff on mah plate, Henry, I’ve got a reputation to uphold as Joey’s ‘ _perfect_ li’l Devil Darlin’’, ya know?”** He practically spat the word ‘perfect’ out.

The old animator didn’t like how “Bendy” was sounding, like there was more to this than just revenge against Henry, than just the thrill of the chase. “Why do you keep me alive?” He finally asked. “I’ve basically died twice, but I came back both times.”

“Bendy” paused, chuckling softly. **“Mainly… it was to see if I could do it, to keep someone alive, rather than kill ‘em, ya know? Cause that’s all I do, kill, kill, kill. But with a bit of mah ink, a special ink, ain’t no one else here wit’ it… except you now, well… I let you have a taste of the power of a real demon, Ross. You can’t really die here, as long as the ink keeps flowin’, an’ there’s puddles for ya to spring forth from. I can’t have ya dyin’ just yet, got lots of stuff for us to do while you’re trapped here. Been a long time since I’ve had fun in dis place.”**

“I’m not your plaything.” The human hissed.

 **“Never said you were, buddy.”** “Bendy” shrugged, knocking a can of soup aside with his right foot, Henry noticed there was a split in the front, down the middle, like something tore it to make it look cloven. **“I should let ya go, gotta go kill that Angel, save Boris. He’s the only one I’ve got left in this hellhole, can’t watch her kill mah best bud again…”**

“You… never do Boris any harm, do you?”

“Bendy” huffed. **“Why would I? He’s mah friend, an’ the only one I’ve got left. All dem other people here, they’re either dead or changed, Boris stayed the same, he’s still the same good boy he always was. Alice’s gone, don’t know whatever happened ta her, Joey’s practically dead to me, at least… he will be when I find ‘em. But still, I’ve got no one and he ain’t done anythin’ wrong to me, not like you an’ the others have.”**

“And I’m sorry for that, but Bendy, believe me when I say that if it were up to me, I never would have left. I would have remained, still animatin’ your silly cartoons, waiting to see the finished product of you up on the screen with all the bells and whistles.”

There was a wet sigh from “Bendy” as ink slipped through his teeth again. He ran a hand over his face, past his horns, it just spread more ink around. **“Don’t… Henry. Don’t be gettin’ mah hopes up with your sweet words. Sweet words dat turn into dried up ink in mah ears, if I really had any… I ain’t lettin’ you off the hook just yet, buster, believe me, this is only round four of our game, and it’s gonna get a lot more intense.”**

He turned to grin at the animator, chuckling a little. **“Well, it’s been a real blast catchin’ up wit ya, old man! But I’ve got things ta do, people ta kill, wolves to save, you get it, right?”** He reached down, pinching the other’s cheek in a mocking manner, before giving him a few paps on the face.

 **“Until we meet again. Oh, an’ be weary, I warned ya before dat you entered into dangerous territories. Well… things are a lot worse down here, much worse…”** He put his hand on Henry’s chest, and the grin turned wicked.

“Don’t get yaself killed, Henry!” He said in the happy, cheerful, normal voice of Bendy the Dancing Demon, before shoving Henry, striking his head against the metal floor of the elevator.

Henry cried out and shot up, panting. Blinking, he took in his surroundings, surprised to find that he was still in the crashed elevator, the lights flickering as they had done when Boris had been kidnapped instead of glowing softly during his conversation with “Bendy”.

Speaking of the demon, Henry didn’t see any sign of him anywhere, maybe… maybe that whole encounter was just a dream? Like before? Well, “Bendy” had mentioned the warning from one of the dreams, so it had to be!

Right? Right…?

He rubbed the back of his head, feeling a knot forming back there, great, another one for his growing collection…

He paused, glancing at his shirt, where he saw something he didn’t remember seeing before.

An inky hand print, of a left hand.

A gloved left hand, with four thick fingers, but one small one.

That was the hand “Bendy” used to shove him down.

Was… was it really just a dream…?

END

**Author's Note:**

> Was it? Even I don’t know, I confused myself, haha.
> 
> Uhg, this turned out too long and wordy, and I’ve edited so many times. I still don’t like how it came out, but honestly? This was something I’ve had in mind for a while, so I had to write it.
> 
> I have no clue what is in Level S, but if that’s where chapter four begins, I’ll edit anything I need to for this chapter upon its release (cause you know my dumb ass is gonna go in and play chapter four the day it comes out. Hopefully I’ll be done with chapter three before then cause… I haven’t… actually finished it yet. “Bendy” scares the shit out of me and my controls on my laptop suck).
> 
> Also, there is something really funny to me about this whole conversation because, in my head, “Bendy” spoke to Henry through his teeth. He never once opens his mouth, he speaks through his clenched teeth cause it’s hard to open his mouth. The only time, so far, in the story that I’ve had him do it (though it’s never seen) is when he tears the speaker from the wall during his ‘talk’ with “Alice”.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! Leave a kudos and a comment! You guys are fueling my love to write with your nice words!


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